Form and Structure in the context of The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht.

Sarah Williamson

Scenes structure the play. The scenes are quite long and the play doesn’t have Acts. The play lasts around two and a half hours and has six scenes. The first scene, the prologue, is short at around 15 minutes long and the rest are around a 25 minutes. The play is episodic which means it doesn’t happen in chronological order. The play is didactic as it as Brecht wants to tell a story that has a meaning and a moral. This also fits in with his alienation techniques as he uses alienation to tell the audience he is telling a story and doesn’t want the audience to get emotionally involved with the play.

Alienation is a form of the play in which it proves Brecht’s theory that the play is a story and that is the purpose of it. An example of form, which Brecht uses to express alienation, is the episodic nature of the play. The play begins with the story of the governor and what happens to him throughout the revolution. Grusha comes into the play when the governor’s wife leaves the baby when he is killed. This is the start of her story which she rescues the baby, Michael. In scene 4 when all seems well, apart from her marrying a man she does not love, the story changes to Azdaks, which is back in time to the start of the revolution. This is about him finding a fugitive of the revolution and handing himself in for not realising. In a twist of the story he is made judge of Grusinia. Another form is when the sky goes red in the court scene when the revolution happens. They look into the distance into Grusinia and see the sky red. This is to represent the blood and anguish of the city and Brecht puts it into the play because he wants to use symbolism. This is because of alienation so the audience know that this is a story. Also the narrator is a form of alienation as he is the storyteller and the actors are helping to tell it therefore proving the Brechtian technique of the audience knowing that the play is telling a story, as this is how he wants to portray the plays he writes.

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The play is didactic, which means the play has a moral and is a story so it teaches. Brecht makes sure the audience know this is didactic through alienation, the episodic nature of the play, the narrator and the guest. The teaching and moral of the play is “the children to the maternal that they thrive” which means love is the maternal link to a child. This is shown in the end scene when the play comes to a close. Azdak, who is judge, draws a chalk circle as he cannot decide who should have Michael. He tells the child to stand in the centre and the two women, Grusha and the governor’s wife, and tells them to pull Michael. The person who pulls him out keeps the child. Grusha lets go and does it when the task is asked to be done again. Azdak knows Michael is the governor’s child yet he wants the best for the child. Azdak then knows Grusha is maternally the mother of the child and he grants Grusha to keep him.

The final form in the play is the episodic nature of the play. Other forms include, montage of scenes and the use of a narrator. The play is episodic which means it doesn’t happen in the order that it happens. After scene 4 the play goes back in time to the sub-plot part of the play, which is about Azdak. The play is written like this because both stories tie at the end so he tells the story about them both first but not in the same order. The prologue is about the opening of the story which is about the governor and his wife. His wife abandons her child when she runs from the revolution. Grusha finds the child and this is the start of her story. However, in scene 5 it changes to the story of Azdak. We do not know if this is back in time or not until this scene. Scene 4 introduces Azdak and his story when he finds fugitive. He does not know he is a fugitive from the revolution and hands himself in to the courts. He is then made judge in a twist to the story in scene 5. We find out that the revolution is happening at this time when the ironshirts point out the revolution. This is portrayed by red sky to show blood. The two characters meet at the end during a court case, which Grusha and the Governors wife are battling for custody of Michael. We showed this by using red lights on the stage to show the red sky every time the scene was set in the time of the revolution. We also used placards to show this. This form would effect the audience in a way that Brecht uses a lot which is letting the audience know that the play is a story told by actors and to make sure the audience do not get to involved emotionally with the characters. He does this, as he believes this is how a play should be acted, as it is a story. This affects the audience as they don’t get emotionally involved in the play and find a moral out of the story.

Form and Structure in the context of The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht.

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